Jordan and Ryan Rabidou: Somers grads sow seeds of lacrosse

Jul. 11, 2006

Written by

JOE LOMBARDI

THE JOURNAL NEWS

It's been three full years since they last pranced across area fields as football and lacrosse stars for Somers High School. But the name "Rabidou" is still very much alive in the minds of area residents, as Brendan Curran learned.

Curran, the former varsity boys lacrosse coach at Scarsdale who will be guiding North Salem in its inaugural season next spring, is the general manager of the Renegades, an Under-14 select summer tournament team made up of eighth- and ninth-grade players from Westchester and Fairfield counties.

"When they heard I was getting the Rabidou twins to coach this team, that was all they needed to know," Curran said. "The kids really respect them as players, and as coaches. They've had a lot of fun being taught by them. They're like big brothers to the kids."

They're also two of the best lacrosse players to have come through the area — and with each stop they've made along the way, Jordan and Ryan Rabidou have been together. Call them the Lower Hudson Valley's own version of former Syracuse stars Paul and Gary Gait.

They helped Somers win four straight sectional titles and ended their varsity careers with a trip to the state championship game for the first time in school history, as Jordan, a four-time all-section midfielder, became the Tuskers' only two-time all-American, and Ryan, an attackman, was their top goal scorer.

As captains of Somers' football team their senior year, they helped the Tuskers make their third straight bowl appearance.

They were also standouts in track, Jordan winning a pair of sectional titles and Ryan setting a school record in the high jump.

Now 22, they're heading into their senior season on the lacrosse team at Loyola College in Baltimore. The 5-foot-9, 178-pound Jordan led the Greyhounds in ground balls and faceoffs won last season. After spending his first two years as a reserve, Ryan, who is 5-11 and 155 pounds, was the Greyhounds' third-leading scorer.

"I want to play in college one day, and to have them as coaches teaching me is pretty cool," said 14-year-old Bobby Sincero of Verplanck, a goaltender for the Renegades. "Jordan coaches the defense and Ryan does the offense. I know we've gotten a lot better since the first practice. Already, we're a lot more unified."

Though it's their first coaching venture, it's hardly surprising that the Rabidous have embraced it.

Their father, the late Bruce Rabidou, was a health teacher and coach at Somers High for more than 30 years.

"They always say that sons of coaches often wind up being some of the best coaches," Jordan said.

The Rabidous also have the benefit of three years playing at the Division I level.

"We basically have put in the whole Loyola offense and the Loyola defense on this team," Jordan said.

"But we're simplifying it," Ryan added. "The three main things we're emphasizing are ball movement, teamwork and being unselfish."

The 24-player team, which is playing in tournaments each weekend this month, practices twice a week — usually at Ridgefield High School's turf field in Connecticut.

There's little time for the Rabidous to rest or relax during the remaining days of the week because they provide private lessons. About 70 percent of their clients are seventh- and eighth-graders.

"We started doing it in the summer going into our senior year in high school," Ryan said. "We had five kids at first. Since then, we've worked with around 40 kids from age 7 on up. I'm booked from the morning till at night."

"It's an all-day thing — every day," Jordan said.

It should come as no surprise that after college, the Rabidous are planning to launch their own lacrosse-related business.

"We would like to start out with an online store and also an actual store that people can come to," Ryan said.

The idea came to them after they worked a camp in Minnesota last summer.

"The game is growing so fast over there," Ryan said. "We met this one guy out there who started a store, and he's doing so well with it because right now, he doesn't have much competition."

The Rabidous have not decided on a location for their business yet, but Ryan was quick to name some possibilities.

"San Diego, Miami, Arizona, Rhode Island," he said. "We had a vision of lacrosse getting real big when we were kids, and each year it keeps growing even more. But beyond that, we've always felt that you can't really fail when you turn your passion into your pride."